Yuji Ichioka & Emma Gee

Yuji Ichioka (1936-2002) was an American-born Japanese (Nisei) historian who ws a pioneer in studies of Japanese American experiences. Coining the term “Asian American,” with his wife Emma Gee. Ichioka was also instrumental in developing an academic field of Asian American Studies in the late 1960s. Emma Gee is an American activist and writer. Ichioka, along with his partner Emma Gee whom he had met at Columbia, steered the younger generations of Asian Americans to a civil rights, antiwar movement. Recruited as the instructor of the first Asian American studies course at UCLA, Ichioka took part in the establishment of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center while maintaining his ties to early leaders in UC Berkeley’s ethnic studies.